David Moyes issues reminder that Everton ‘hold the cards’ on Jarrad Branthwaite’s future

Not quite as much of an absolute “don't even try” statement as I'd have liked, but it gives me hope.

Everton hold Brainthwaite's 3-year contract.

I've had to sell players before that I wanted to keep.

I wouldn't want to sell Branthwaite.

We'll have to look at the finances.

I hope not, Jarrad can be a big part of our immediate future.

So let's hope the new owners have a different view on how to achieve progress with the club than Chairman Bill had.

All I ask is that we don't give our talent away as we have in the past. I note, okay only gossip, that the crowd across the park will let Doak go. For £30M. Go figure!

Our defence has done a great job and it will be a risk to sell Branthwaite but I think the excuse will be "We need the money".

Just that familiar tune.

Well, yes, Alan, but there have also always been examples of players not always needing to move ever ‘upwards' and at double quick pace.

“I think he will be sold, we have O'Brien standing by.”

My preference for the central defensive partnership for next season (well at some point during it at least) is O'Brien with Branthwaite. I'm not giving up on that idea yet, Raymond.

O'Brien hasn't even shown he can play on the left (Tarkowski would stay right as the ‘senior' partner, wouldn't he?) plus I think both will easily surpass James Tarkowski as all-round centre-backs.

I will be very pleasantly surprised by O'Brien if he will easily surpass Tarkowski as an all-round centre-back.

Is it ‘easily’ or ‘surpass’ you have a problem with?

To me James is a very capable ‘physical’ player who leads the way in putting his body on the line when it comes to blocking and both aerial and grounded challenges. He is, however, a fully mature player and already at the very peak of his capability.

I think if both Jarrad and Jake can at least equal his rugged competitiveness when tackling, heading and heading (and I haven’t seen anything to make me doubt they could when properly mature) they could both out do him in terms of mobility and distribution, which would add up to better all-round players in my book.

Where do you see them falling short?

Maybe I should caveat my post by stating if I were ever to be envious of any others teams centre-back pairings it would be Hansen / Lawrenson well ahead of Pallister / Bruce.

I hope we hold onto him, and he holds onto us. If not, it has to be for top dollar, in excess of £70M. Plus add-ons. Especially if that rat at Utd, or the rs, are after him.

Certainly if United come in for Jarrad at £70m as Pete speculates, we can tell them to go pound sand and probably hang on to him.

But if it's Barcelona or Real Madrid (both have been rumoured), forget it. The young man will want to go and we will have to let him.

The ultimate high card is his own.

I don’t think Dave, sees them falling short Si, but more that it sounds like he rates Tarkowski, so will just be pleasantly surprised if O’Brien easily surpasses him as an all round centre back.

Branthwaite has had a difficult season but I think the kid has shown his class, and will have made Tuchel aware of his talent, in our last two games against first and second in the table.

If money is not freely available for some new players especially on offense then Everton may have no option.

It has been noticeable that Everton defensively have been pretty sound but the injuries to DCL, Chermitti and Broja have not helped matters and then again none of those three have set the world alight from what we have seen. Ndiaye has been exceptional and needs to be kept at all costs.

I am harsh in who I consider to be absolute top level players and he doesn’t quite make it for me. The younger lads have, in my view, some better attributes which means they could both surpass him as long as they otherwise match his best traits.

I am confident, from what I have already seen, that they can / will tackle both fiercely and smartly, throw their bodies in the path of ‘rockets’, and use their ‘heads’ in any way necessary.

I have been very pleasantly surprised by O’Brien, at fullback, because my first impression inside the stadium when I was watched him was that he looked badly out of place playing in that position.

He’s adapted and he’s grown and I think a large part of this is because he has got a bit of composure, so I’m looking forward to seeing how he performs in his most natural position.

If Tarkowski wasn’t the slowest I’d be excited to see how these three performed together in a back three, but maybe I’m being unkind to him and I do think it’s intriguing to think about because they might just all complement each other. Who knows?

I think he’ll sign a new contract

"Real? Nah"

Why not?

Carlo knows Jarrad well. And he's needed. RM has had a rough year defensively -- the Arsenal game was no outlier. Alaba and Rudiger are 32. Militao and Carvahal blew out knees.

I hope you're right and they don't come in for him... but... ?

Tarkowski has been immense recently, but as each season passes. He seems to take longer to get the old engine warmed up. He must have been among the worst defenders in the league for the first dozen or so games this season. Moyes has lots of previous for getting belated tunes out of ageing defenders, but we cannot go to BMD expecting Tarks to perform consistently next season. His body is no longer up to it

I hope he stays but other than Ndiaye he’s probably our only player currently worth over £20m which is a sad indictment on the state of our squad. Much will depend on the realities of our PSR position and whether we can afford to reshape the squad this summer without selling.

Only a handful of team can really afford him. See who get desperate. We need the money to rebuild the squad. So many positions without adequate cover.

Man Utd are an absolute shit show, Chelsea are very much hit and miss, Man City might come back stronger, Newcastle are inconsistent, and the likes of Bournemouth, Fulham and Brighton aren't that far behind the aforementioned teams.

I didn't mention Spurs because they're another basket-case.

Why can't we break into the Top 6? Good recruitment in the coming months, lovely new stadium, new owners — this is all going to attract decent players.

I personally think Branthwaite will sign another contract, there's only one team at the minute head and shoulders above everyone and I'd be amazed if he crossed the park.

I also forgot today's opponents but can't see them repeating this form next season, so there's places up for grabs.

5 places next season in the Champions League. It sickens me, the way we had to fight tooth and nail in Moyes's first spell, play a qualifier joke and then get ripped off by a corrupt just-out-of-retirement twat of a referee.

On another note, I'm going for a 1-1 draw, Branthwaite scores for us from a corner.

I suppose it comes down to what Branthwaite wants to do.
If he is sold, it shouldn't be less than £60M.

I thought he could have done better with Arsenal's goalscorer last week letting him come inside and getting that shot in. I don't think he is as brave as Tarkowski in blocking and facing up to shots coming in.

Mind you, Branthwaite could have done better turning away from that shot not long ago with Pickford letting it go in, in one of the recent away games.

When Moyes was here first time, we had to sell to stay afloat; that's no longer the case. As Moyes said, we hold all the cards as he has at least another 2 years here and no get-out clause.

I am sure we will offer him an improved deal which he has said he is happy to sign. A future Everton and England captain, he has everything: obviously excellent in the air, good range of passing ability and – even more important than the first two points – he is an excellent reader of the game.

I used to have a coach who was obsessed by speed over the first yard for defenders, esp centre-backs. He said it was a mixture of body shape, body positioning, reading the play and desire.

Jake looks a little too 'straight on' for me and turns and reacts a little slowly. I think it's mostly related to his shape and positioning. At centre-back, you have to be able to turn both ways very quickly against quick forwards.

He's done really well at full-back and has adjusted to the position. I've noticed his starting positions and body shape have changed a lot as he's played there more. When he moves back into centre-back, he may always have problems against the smaller forwards who can turn either way and get shots off.

Both of them will be. Let's remember, we are talking about a 23- and 22-year-old respectively. That's young for a centre-back and they will only get better.

It's what concerns me about not replacing Tarkowski just yet. They need that leader around them.

As much as I am enthused by Jake's emergence, he does give me the odd wobble, particularly when he switches off occasionally and watches the ball go over his head.

But, he's young and will make mistakes and is going to be as important a player for Everton as Branthwaite will be.

It surprised me to learn that Jarrad is on £35,000 a week, for such a potential talent and huge transfer fee, that is a very low wage — he should be on double that at the very least.

I think that leaves Everton very vulnerable with the wages big clubs interested can offer.

I had no idea what his new contract was and I'm surprised he signed the contract for that amount.

Plus Carlo won't be there next season.

The wages Premier League players are on are obscene; however, they are a fact of life us mere mortals have no control of.

If it's correct Branthwaite is on £35k a week, then we must up it to the going rate. He is the future and we need to keep him.
Getting Doucoure off the wage bill would more than pay Branthwaite.

I hate to bring it up but getting Salah on £400k a week at Mordor is a steal. How much would it have cost to replace him? Plus the replacement's wages.

Unfortunately, these days, £35k a week is nothing.

As Mike says the player is in the driving seat. Get him signed up to a new contract and give him some of the wages Keane was on.

The long term planning of bringing in O'Brien looks to be good business now. He is a better footballer than I first thought.

Time will tell if he is a quality centre back, reading the game, organising the line and being brave are pretty fundamental for quality cbs.

I think Tarkowski has all 3 attributes whilst the other 2 young cbs need to learn from him.

Think Moyes handled the question well. We are a selling club and have been for a very long time. Think us selling Keown to Arsenal was the start of it for me.

Following week both at home and playing Liverpool and Arsenal.

If Leicester do not WIN one of those games, they cannot catch us.

Ipswich, with 2 defeats could only overtake us on Goal Diff (currently we are -5, they are -34). Then they go to Newcastle. So Moyes can probably start negotiating from 27th April.

And all the above is based on us losing out next 3 games.

A win today means we would already be safe (on GD) from Leicester and if Ipswich get beat from them as well.

One point from the next three games?

Are you quoting Moyes?

Ray, too young to remember, but I've heard the stories. Social media or not, I believe there was a shit storm when Alan Ball was sold in the name of "very good business".

My dad still named my brother after Alan Ball. He wasn't born until 1976!

Lineker was sold probably because Howard thought he was getting the Barca job. He was a fantastic goal scorer and admits the Everton team he played in was the best he experienced. It wasn't because we were skint.

The Keown transfer at the time made no sense other than we needed the money.

Players like Ball don't come round very often, he won everything there was to win in the game,

I've heard several reasons for Ball's sale, including Brian's above, but they all refer to Catterick's ‘good business'. Josh, we'll never know if we could have kept hold of Lineker, the football landscape has changed since then. It was also pre Bosman so the club held all the cards in those days and PSR hadn't been heard of. Without me checking, I don't recall the RS breaking up their side due to the ban.?

Incidentally, I have just finished reading The Accidental Footballer, Pat Nevin's autobiography. He pulls no punches in his thoughts on the drinking culture in the club at that time. It would appear his professional attitude and outlook wasn't really appreciated by Kendall. Kendall was a great Everton manager first time round but he should never have been employed again after he left for a sunnier climate.

With Linekar, as well as the call of Barcelona, I have no doubt the European ban was a factor as it was for a few.

The Full Members / SImod Cup substitute didn't cut it.

I remember being on the Kop for a Merseyside Derby in that competiton. Tough economic times, but I think only around 25,000 present.

I didn't think I needed to spell it out

I think it was good business with Everton doubling the money they paid for him after getting five great years from him and although he had a good career in front of him he was never again as good as he was for Everton, Arsenal sold him on while he was still a good buy and he went to Southampton where he became the first player to play more than a hundred games in the first division with four different teams.

We missed him and he missed Everton and our fans, cried to the other players when he learned he was going to Arsenal while telling them “ He’s selling me”.

His dad was made up when he went to Arsenal telling the Daily Express “ He’s got a great deal, a long contract and doubling his wages.

I know Goodison Road was like a morgue at the home game on the Saturday after Bally left——gone but never forgotten!

Alan Ball never won the FA Cup. Loser's medals with us and Arsenal.

Lineker himself says he never asked to leave and it was Everton's decision, although I'm sure he was happy to go. Best goalscorer for Everton that I have ever seen by some distance, league titles either side of his one season at Goodison though.

Where we went wrong was not having a buy-back clause in his contract.